Temporary pseudochronic lesions during the recovery of acute necrohemorrhagic pancreatitis in rabbits.

Acute necrohemorrhagic pancreatitis was induced in rabbits by multiple interstitial trypsin injections in the body of the pancreas. The time course of regeneration was followed for 12 weeks. Chronic pancreatitis-like changes persisted for 4 weeks in all experimental animals, and the recovery was complete after 12 weeks. Reversible fibrosis and regressive acinar changes ("tubular complexes") were most severe in the region of the trypsin injections. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the pancreas showed an anastomosing tubular arrangement in the areas of "pseudochronic pancreatitis" but not in the normal pancreas.